By D.J. DeJong

Staff Writer

Chaffee County Board of Commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday to deny a special event permit for a Pretty Lights concert proposed for Sept. 12-16 at The Meadows in Buena Vista.

Commissioner Greg Felt cast the dissenting vote.

Jed Selby and Michael Sampliner, of Meadow Creek Music, brought the application to the county. Selby is also the owner of the property at The Meadows.

Concerns cited during discussion of the application included the short amount of time between the Sept. 12-16 concert and the already approved Bonfire Bluegrass concert scheduled for Sept. 26-29.

Commissioners voiced concerns that the compressed timeline would not allow law enforcement and Emergency Medical Services personnel enough time to rest between events, as well as straining regular services.

The event’s requested attendance of 10,000 people was also cited as problematic in terms of county services coverage.

Several proposals were made on both sides in an effort to reach an agreement.

Commissioners proposed a lesser number of attendees of 8,500, equal to the number for the Bonfire Bluegrass.

Selby, in contact with the band, proposed an extra week between concerts to give county personnel extra time to rest between events.

During the discussion, Felt and Commissioner P.T. Wood expressed a desire to come up with a different way of handling events at The Meadows, as the current method of special event permits did not appear to be working well on either side.

In addition to the concerns about coverage, Commissioner Keith Baker questioned the use of lighting and lasers for the outdoor concert. Pretty Lights is known elaborate light shows during their concerts.

Commissioners heard from Josh Hadley, director of Chaffee County EMS and form Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze.

Hadley said his department could handle both events, but he did have concern about fatigue.

Spezze, speaking via cell phone from Canon City, said the change in time with even 7,500 people at the Pretty Light event wouldn’t help his department. He said he would have to have all of his personnel working during both concerts.

Wood made the motion to deny and both he and Baker voted in favor of the motion. Flet, who favored giving Meadow Creek Music until the April 2 meeting to amend some of the board’s concerns, voted against the denial.

In other business, the commissioners approved the awarding of $170,000 in grants from the Marijuana Excise Tax Accountability Board to local non-profit groups. The grant total included $50,000 from Chaffee County Department of Human Services.

Entities receiving funds were: Achieve Inc. – $20,000; Greater Arkansas River Nature Association – $20,000; ElevateHer – $20,000; Ark Valley High Rollers – $10,000; Chaffee County Public Health Aging Well – $20,000; Colorado Farm to Table – $20,000; Southwest Conservation Corps Conservation Legacy Program – $15,000; Chaffee County Hospitality Inc. – $10,000; The Alliance – $12,000; Salida Circus – $10,000; Full Circle Restorative Justice – $5,000; Guidestone Colorado – $5,000; Boy Scouts of America Troop 60 – $1,500; and A Church – $1,500.

Monica Haskell, DHS director said the $50,000 donation from her department was to support local agencies that provide services to the populations the department works with.

Commissioner also approved the retention of Sanborn, Head and Associates, Inc. as the new consulting service for Chaffee County Landfill.

A waiver of landfill fees for GARNA for the 33rd annual Clean Up Green Up event, scheduled for May 18 was approved.

Also approved were a liquor license transfer from Turnip the Beet LLC, doing business at Robin’s to Butter Together LLC doing business as Robin’s at 8046 U.S. 50 and a letter of support from Places to age for their application for a $1 million congressional directed spending application for a proposed assisted living and memory care facility.

The commissioners also listened to a presentation regarding futile call determination from Colorado Division of Water Resources staff.